


Lie down, Reggie (We'll Be Here When You Wake Up).

by LuminousMe



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Everybody Lives, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Modern AU, Reggie Centric, Reggie Has Bad Parents (Julie and The Phantoms), Sleep Deprivation, Soft Sunset Curve, Supportive Sunset Curve, parents fighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:05:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27470131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuminousMe/pseuds/LuminousMe
Summary: His parents' fighting is getting worse and Reggie no longer feels safe or comfortable sleeping at home.
Comments: 24
Kudos: 261





	Lie down, Reggie (We'll Be Here When You Wake Up).

**Author's Note:**

> Anon asks: 
> 
> Okay what if as Reggie's parents' fight get worse and worse and more violent he can't sleep at home because he is always anxious or scared or pushed around or just worrying or sad. So he is exhausted during the day. And he starts being distracted and more sluggish and then after the boys are done playing for the day and the 3 of them sitting on the couch Reggie finally feels safe so he starts drifting off until he falls asleep on Alex's shoulder and Alex is worried and moved at the same time.
> 
> (okay so note: i kinda made this a modern au because i loved Tumblr user @mara-writes’s modern highschool au so much i had to borrow some inspo ffksjfks)
> 
> It isn’t exactly what you asked for, but I like how it turned out. I hope you do, too!

The second time the police are called that week, Reggie lets himself out the back, before they can catch him. He doesn’t have time to grab his jacket, so he keeps his arms close to his torso and his hands deep in the pockets on his jeans.

Before he vaults the fence behind the house, he glances back and sees the neighbours in their front yard, peering over the low wall that separates the two beach front homes.

They’re just silhouettes, but he can see that the man has his arm around the woman and she leans against his chest.

Reggie drops down the other side and takes off into the early hours of the morning.

At 3:30am, he finds a 24-hour diner and nurses a large black coffee, brought to him by a girl with braids. He didn’t have enough change in his pockets, but she checked her manager was out of earshot as she gave him a discount for the red flannel.

“Boys in red get twenty percent off,” she’d said, before sliding his money into her hand and dropping it into the till.

When he went to the toilet and splashed his face, he realised she must’ve clocked the circles under his eyes and the red, puffiness of his cheeks.

God, he was _so_ tired.

The coffee didn’t wake him up, per say, but it did give him the facility to make it back home when the clock in the diner hits 6am.

When he gets there, the door to his parent’s bedroom is closed, but he isn’t sure who’s inside. He doesn’t care. He stops by his room to spray some deodrant, change into his red hoodie, grab his bag and phone, and heads out to school.

Alex and Flynn are in his home room and when he slips into his desk behind Flynn and pull his hood up, he feels the two eyeing each other over his head.

“You okay, Reg?” Alex asks, leaning in from the desk to his left.

He swallows before he lifts his head and plasters a dopey smile across his face. “I’m just tired,” he says, running a hand up his cheek and through his hair, knocking the soft hood down again.

“Late night?” Flynn asks, with a smirk.

Reggie rubs his eyes. “I was rewatching the final season of She-ra.”

Alex tsks and sits back in his seat. “You and your kids cartoons.”

Reggie pouts and he knows Julie would back him up if she were here, too. “They’re _family_ cartoons.”

Alex rolls his eyes while Flynn snickers. Reggie is just glad they took his lie at face value. They stop bothering him when the home room teacher calls for their attention and its all he can do to keep his sore eyes on the board as she talks at the class.

–

There are no police the next night, but that doesn’t stop a plate ending up shattering against the wall behind his head.

Reggie shuts himself in his room as the arguing continues down stairs. He sits on his bed and kneads the edge of the mattress, his heart thumping. He’s hyperventilating and, with his trembling hands, he can’t hold his phone still long enough to google:

_How to stop a panic attack._

Then his mother screams and something else shatters and he decides he can’t be here anymore. This time he takes a moment to throw some necessities in backpack and pulls on his beanie and jacket. He crosses the hallway with a strange, calm determination to grab his toothbrush and some toothpaste from the bathroom.

He doesn’t even bother going out the back door this time, just lets himself out the front without sparing a glance towards the kitchen. 

The diner is open again but the girl with the. braids is not there this time. He decides that would make sense. It’s just gone 12am and she was working the morning shift earlier that day.

Thankfully, he brings enough money this time and pays in full for his coffee. He drops a couple coins in the tip jar to make up for the discount he received the night before.

He picks a spot at the far end of the diner and curls up in the corner of the booth, hugging his jacket around himself.

He puts his headphones in and connects to the wifi. He puts a movie on netflix and props his phone up against the salt shaker.

–

At 5am he’s awoken by the sound of coffee pouring into his empty cup.

He startles, lifting his head from his hand and notices that his movie has finished and his screen is dark.

“You looked like you needed a top up,” says the girl with braids. He blinks up at her and she wobbles the coffee pot, dark liquid sloshing about inside. “Free refills, so.”

He clears his throat and straightens his back. It cracks and clicks and he groans.

“What time is it?” he asks, rubbing his eyes. His tear ducts are grainy with sleep.

“Just gone five,” she says, beginning to step away. “Enjoy your coffee.”

“Hey, wait.”

The girl stops and turns back. Reggie gently taps his finger to the handle of the mug. “Thank you,” he says, in a low voice. “For this. Thanks.”

She smiles, nods, and returns to the other side of the counter.

–

He doesn’t go home that morning, he just brushes his teeth in the school bathrooms and changes in a stall.

He shoves the clothes that he wore at the diner overnight into his locker and manages to slam it shut before Luke can catch him.

“Hey, Reg. I texted you, didn’t you get it?” the boy says, arms out at his side.

Reggie’s eyes widen at the thought of the darkened screen in his pocket. Of all the things he’d thought to grab last night, his phone charger had not been one of them.

“Oh, uh…”

Luke watches him with a raised eyebrow as Reggie’s sleep deprived, over-caffeinated brain tries to tease out a reasonable-sounding lie.

He gapes at Luke for a moment, before he realises words aren’t coming out of his mouth.

“Knocked it,” he splutters.

Luke recoils. "You… what?”

Reggie chides his fried brain. 

He’d asked if Reggie had gotten his text, _not_ why his phone was dead.

He laughs to cover it. “Pft, no, uh.” He clears his throat. “My phone is dead. I didn’t get your text because my phone is dead.”

“Dead? As in stopped working?” Luke asks.

“Oh. No. Just out of charge. I knocked it off my bed last night and it must’ve fallen out of the charger. Because it was dead this morning. And I didn’t charge it because I overslept.”

Luke pulls a face. “Okay…” his eyes flicker up and down Reggie’s body and Reggie finds himself tightening defensively. He narrows his eyes at Reggie’s pale, sunken face. “Reg, are you lying to me?”

Reggie snorts. “What? me? No. I’ve never told a single lie in my entire life.”

At this, Luke’s concerned curiosity fades away to skepticism. “Alright, well i know for a fact that that isn’t true. We literally played hooky together in 9th grade to go watch Avengers. Haven’t told a lie in your life…” Luke scoffs and shakes his head.

Reggie smirks and they begin to head away from his locker. “What did you text me about?”

Luke jumps and almost knocks a girl in the face with his elbow. He apologises and then jogs to catch up again.

He slaps a hand on Reggie’s shoulder. “I came up with this killer verse for _Just One More_ last night. You, me, Alex, and Julie need to meet in the music room at lunch so I can play it for you guys.”

“Oh, cool. Okay.”

“I texted you to bring your bass, but I guess you’ll just have to borrow one.”

“Sorry,” Reggie says, before he has to swerve out of the way of a boy from the marching band who’s wearing a tuba that’s almost twice the size of him.

As he moves, he catches his feet and stumbles and loses his balance. He’s too late to react and feels himself falling.

Thankfully, Luke catches him before he can get too far off his feet.

“Watch where you’re going, jerk!” Luke calls to the kid over his shoulder, before checking in with Reggie. “You okay?”

Reggie’s heart beats to fast for comfort and he quickly untangles himself from Luke to stand by himself.

Luke’s arms fall to his sides as if they’ve suddenly lost all purpose. “Reg, are you sure you’re okay?”

Reggie swallows, feeling his cheeks flush with warmth and he ducks his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, of course,” he says, threading his thumbs through the straps of his backpack. He refuses to meet Luke’s eye. He swallows hard. “I have to go. I’ll meet you at lunch.”

And he leaves before Luke can stop him.

–

He doesn’t show for lunchtime rehearsal. Instead, he sneaks back home to charge his phone. He sits, knees tucked into his chest, on the floor with his back against his bed as power slowly drips back into the cell.

He rests his head against his knees.

He could just go to bed now. All he would have to do is climb to his feet - no, his knees, and slide under the covers. His head would hit the pillow and he’d be out of it in less than a second.

But when he thinks of falling asleep here, even in his room, he feels tension cutting through his stomach like sharpened blade.

Why is it that he suddenly feels so unsafe here?

A low buzz sounds to let him know his phone is turning itself back on. He picks it up and watches with rolling nausea as notifications come through. He wonders if either of his parents tried to call him when he didn’t come home that morning.

But he has no missed calls from them.

He does, however, have some from Luke and Alex. There are texts from Julie and Flynn, too. He guesses his absence was noticed from practice that afternoon.

He drops his head back and ignores the notifications as they continue to chime through. All he wants is to be swallowed up by his carpet and for everybody to forget about his existence entirely.

He thinks about going back to the diner - wonders if the girl with the braids is working. He checks the time and notes that it’s only been six hours since she’d woken him up that morning with coffee.

He wonders if she’s graduated highschool.

Somehow, his sluggish feet take him back there anyway.

And to his surprise, he finds her there, too, sweeping the floor while the diner is empty. 

As he enters, a bell goes off above his head and it startles him in his deprived state. The girl flips her hair over her shoulder as she looks his way.

When she notices it’s him, she props a fist on her hip and smirks. “Twice in one day, huh?”

Reggie feels sheepish as he shrugs. “Guess so.”

“Lemme guess,” she says, stepping around to the till. “Large black americano?’

Reggie quirks a smile. "Yeah.”

She punches it in the till and takes note of his red shirt and applies the discount.

“Take a seat and I’ll bring it over.”

Reggie pushes his lips into a straight line and slides onto one of the bar stools. Her eyes flicker over his shoulder to the corner booth and back again.

“Oh,” she says, quietly. “Okay.”

Reggie drums his fingers against the countertop, feeling awkward. He doesn’t know why he’s here.

She places the large, dark coffee in front of him and lingers. He knocks a single knuckle against the porcelain rim.

“So, um, forgive me for making assumptions, but i kinda thought you were in high school,” she says, tipping her head.

Reggie raises his eyebrows. “Oh, no, I am.”

“Right. Shouldn’t you be in class, in that case?”

Reggie swallows and lowers his head. “Yeah,” he says.

When he doesn’t elaborate, she clicks her tongue. "You’ve been in early the past two days. Louise said you were here before one this morning.“

Reggie taps his thumbs together and chews on the inside of his cheek. He can’t decide whether to be honest with her - to share his worries with a stranger, or whatever. He swallows.

"My parents have been fighting. They’ve always fought, but it’s got worse recently. The neighbours have started calling the police, so. I’m hiding out.”

A silence falls between them as the girl processes the information. When he looks up, her lips are pursed and she’s frowning.

"I’m sorry, that was too much.”

The expression clears from her face in an instant. “No. no, it’s just…” She smiles and suddenly Reggie can see the tired lines beneath her eyes, the cracked skin on her lips.

“I’m actually supposed to be a senior, but I had to drop out last year. ‘Cause my dad walked out on us and I have four little sisters. Mom needed help paying the mortgage and the bills, so…” She shrugs. “Here I am.”

Reggie’s shoulders relax and he feels a wave of peace rush through him. “That sucks.”

“It does. So does yours.”

He brings the coffee to his lips and blows as the girl rings out a cloth and wipes down the counter.

They share a small smile, neither offering the other pity, but acknowledging a quiet mutual understanding of the other’s circumstances.

–

When Reggie leaves that afternoon, he texts Luke to apologise for his absence.

 _I went home to charge my phone. Lunch totally slipped my mind_ 😥

He’d only just slipped his phone back into his pocket when he hears a buzz in reply. He pulls it back out, assuming it’s going to be a text from Luke, but instead finds a picture of himself and Luke, cheeks smooshed together, staring back at him.

It takes him another moment to remember that this is Luke’s contact picture and that his phone is ringing.

He takes a breath before he answers. His hands are trembling and whether that’s from the coffee and sleep deprivation or knowing he has to lie to his best friend, again, he’s not sure.

He tries to adopt a casual tone as he answers. "Hey man,” he says in an attempt to be flippant. He runs a hand through his hair. “What’s up?”

“Did you cut afternoon classes today?’

"Uh…”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve come back with you.”

Reggie sucks his teeth. “Sorry, I – I didn’t think.”

There’s a long silence and Reggie checks to see if the calls disconnected. It hasn’t.

“You missed lunch,” Luke says suddenly.

“I forgot, sorry, dude.”

He hears Luke sigh. “It’s fine, we ran it through anyway. Are you free this evening to meet at the studio? We can add your part then.”

Reggie’s heart sinks. He doesn’t think he has the energy to play his bass. He closes his eyes and they’re dry and stinging.

“Um.”

But he knows he can’t let Luke down again.

“Yeah, okay. Yeah.”

“Okay, cool. We’re heading there now. Meet us when you can.”

Luke hangs up and Reggie puts his hands to his forehead. God, his head hurts. He doesn’t know how he’s going to play _and_ perform without his brain melting out his ears in an attempt to escape, he doesn’t know.

What he does know, is that he can’t let the band know how he’s feeling. Because when they know, they’ll want to help. And when that happens, he start feeling like a burden.

He exhales a trembling breath and slaps his cheeks. “Come on, Reggie,” he mutters to himself. “Get your shit together.”

–

When he gets to the studio, he expects to see the whole gang, Flynn included, waiting and ready to play.

Instead, it’s just Luke and Alex, and he finds them hunched together in the centre of the room.

They look up when he enters.

“Hey guys,” he says. “What’s up? Where’s Julie?” He glances over to the keyboard set-up on the right of side of the garage.

The two boys exchange a look.

“She’s doing homework with Flynn,” Alex explains. “It’s just us.”

Reggie frowns. “We’re playing without Julie.”

“You made us play without you this afternoon,” Luke says, brows furrowed. Alex hits his arm and Reggie feels guilt pang in his stomach and he drops his gaze to the floor.

“Yeah. I’m sorry.”

He hears Luke sigh. “No, Reg, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

Reggie twists his hands together, but looks up.

“We didn’t play this afternoon.”

Reggie faulters. “You didn’t? Was it because I wasn't–”

Alex puts out a hand. “No, it was…” He wets his lips and darts a quick look at Luke, who just nods in response. Alex pushes his hands into the pockets of his pink hoodie.

“We’re worried about you, man,” he says.

Reggie tenses. He runs a hand over his hair and pulls his shoulders in. “Worried about me?” he echoes with a bemused scoff. “Why would you… I’m not…”

Luke and Alex don’t seem to be buying it and Reggie doesn’t have the energy to lie to them right now. He drops his shoulders and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“I’m just so tired, guys.”

Luke and Alex take a step towards him.

“I knew there was something up,” Luke says, taking him by the arms and running his thumbs over his shoulders.

Reggie feels his eyes prickle with heat and he exhales with a tremor.

“They’ve started throwing stuff again and arguing outside my room or shouting and screaming downstairs and I just–”

Luke draws him and shushes him. “It’s okay, Reg. It’s okay, we got you.”

And Reggie is so tired he just melts into the arms of his friend. He rests his head against Luke’s shoulder and feels Alex’s hand rubbing his back.

“You wanna lie down for a bit, Reg?” Alex offers in low voice and Reggie sniffs and nods.

“If that’s okay with–”

Luke’s hands are on his face. He’s smiling. “Of course, it’s okay with us.”

Alex disappears to the loft and comes back down with a blanket. He takes Reggie’s hand and leads him to the sofa.

Reggie tugs on his hand. “Can you lie with me?” he whispers and Alex’s face goes slack for a moment.

Then he smiles and squeezes Reggie’s hand in response. “Sure,” he says, then lets go to lay down on the sofa. He shifts to get comfortable, then opens his arms, beckoning Reggie to join him.

And he does.

Reggie lies down next to him, turning inward to bury himself in Alex’s chest, and the boy drapes an arm around him to keep him in place.

“Are you comfortable?” Alex whispers in askance and Reggie yawns as he nods.

“Thank you,” he mumbles against the soft material. Alex just brushes his thumb where it rests against Reggie’s back.

The light is switched off and Reggie hears footsteps from behind. Luke sits on the floor in front of the sofa and buries his hand into Reggie’s hair.

“Sleep, Reg,” he says, stroking his fingers through soft black hair. “We’ll be here when you wake up.”

And when Reggie wakes up six hours later, he finds that the boys have kept their word. Alex’s arm is still around him and his mouth hangs open in his sleep. Reggie twists his head to find Luke on the floor, still, though now he’s laying down on the rug and his fingers are threaded through Alex’s.

Across the room, he’s surprised to see Julie and Flynn have appeared, too, and they’re asleep on blankets laid out out on the floor behind the coffee table, arms wrapped around each other.

Reggie considers waking them all up. He can’t imagine the guys on the floor are too comfortable…

But then Alex shifts and tugs Reggie close again. “Hey,” he mumbles, though his eyes are still closed.

Reggie blinks. “Hey,” he says and finds his voice is a hoarse whisper.

“Go back to sleep.”

“But everyone is–”

“Reg,” Alex says, one eye squinting open. “It’s okay.”

And Reggie doesn’t question it again, just curls up close to Alex and closes his eyes again.

He drifts back to sleep feeling warm and soft and loved.

**Author's Note:**

> Chat to me on Tumblr: @soemthingsparkly


End file.
